SAINTS COACH’S WORDS GO FAR BEYOND NFL’S USUAL BRUTALITY

You want to believe Gregg Williams is a rogue and not the rule. You want to believe that the contemptible creep who paid bounties for bodily harm is forever finished in pro football, and is the last of his kind.

You want to believe that this disgraced defensive coordinator, notoriously of the New Orleans Saints, more recently of the St. Louis Rams, strayed so far out of bounds that his conduct can never be condoned nor mitigated by context.

You want to believe NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has drawn a line so unambiguous and so unforgiving that no other coach or player will dare to cross it. You want to believe football’s inherent brutality can be constrained and that the welfare of its players is the league’s overriding concern.

You may not be convinced of any of that, but you might be encouraged by the steam emanating from A.J. Smith’s ears. The Chargers general manager is limited in what he is allowed to say on the subject, but his position is plain and his anger is palpable. It infuriates him that the Saints could win a championship while conspiring to hurt people.

This is a message the NFL should not muzzle. You want to believe Goodell’s hard line reflects league-wide outrage as well as the liability concerns of the lawyers, and it helps to hear it from the people running the teams.

“It’s our responsibility to run our organizations in a professional manner and follow all rules and regulations of the league,” Smith said Friday. “If we don’t, then it’s the responsibility of the league and, in particular, the commissioner, to make sure, as a league, we do.

“Commissioner Goodell is a strong, firm, consistent commissioner. Integrity of our league and player safety has always been paramount. The man is not wishy-washy on his position. Everyone should know where he’s coming from.”

The payment of bounties is not a new phenomenon in football, and the practice may well be more pervasive than anyone is willing to admit. Since incapacitating key players on the opposing team serves a strategic purpose beyond bloodlust, creating a payment schedule for knocking specified opponents out of action arguably amounts to the next logical step after, “hit ’em again, harder.”

Yet while American society readily rationalizes the collateral damage of its favorite sport, premeditated assault is still a sport sanctioned mainly by mobsters. The audiotape released Thursday that captures Williams imploring Saints players to inflict serious injury on the San Francisco 49ers is so malicious and so malignant that it invites criminal prosecution as well as league discipline.

“Every single one of you, before you get off the pile, affect the head,” Williams said, authorizing extraneous hits on 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. “Early, affect the head. Continue, touch and hit the head.”

Williams’ vocabulary was vulgar, but his message was monstrous. He urged players to “kill (running back) Frank Gore’s head,” to “take out that outside (knee ligament),” of 49ers’ receiver Michael Crabtree, to aggravate the concussion of wide receiver Kyle Williams, to “put (tight end) Vernon Davis’ ankles over the pile.”